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Police lockdown community north of Clinton after man killed in shooting

OPP officers converse at a roadblock set up at Hwy. 4 and Conservation Rd. north of Clinton Sunday morning. Police have sealed off an area around the Hullett Conservation area. John Miner/ The London Free Press

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How and why a man was shot to death near a conservation area remained a mystery late Sunday, after a weekend when people vented on social media about lack of information about a police dragnet that fell over the rural area north of London.

Unconfirmed reports were that two people riding horses — a man and a woman — were shot and the man died.

People in the Clinton area, in Huron County, were told to lock their doors and stay inside — a warning reminiscient of 2007, when triple killer Jesse Imeson was on the lam and the OPP were looking for him.

By Sunday afternoon, after the OPP said only that they’d investigated a shooting and found a man’s body, area residents weren’t quite as jumpy but police still maintained a wide perimeter along rural roads in Central Huron, where they’d been since Saturday evening after reports of the shooting.

No one had been arrested, police told The Free Press. But while the OPP is investigating all leads, “we do not have a description of a suspect at this point,” Huron OPP Const. Jamie Stanley wrote in an e-mail.

“I think the point where the public needs to be concerned has somewhat passed now,” said Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn. “The OPP are still advising that people use a little bit of caution, but to go about their regular routine.”

The man’s body was found near the Hullett Wildlife Conservation Area, but it took 20 hours before a sparse OPP statement confirmed police were investigating a shooting and a man was dead.

“I was terrified last night,” said Diane Proper, who lives in Vanastra and was checking a business where she works close to a police roadblock Sunday morning.

“I went out and locked the car, locked the trailer and kept our dogs close,” she said. “It is really hard to know what to do, who is safe.”

Diane’s husband, Rob, said the couple were worried about the safety of a grandson visiting a home near the area north of Clinton that remains sealed off by police.

“There is just no information. We are concerned for everyone,” he said.

In the information vaccuum, social media exploded with people posting all sorts of unsubstantiated details, the couple said.

“If police would open up it would give us something to go on,” said Rob.

The tight-lipped police stance also triggered criticism on social media.

“Police usually have good reasons to do what they do, but lockdown of Clinton-area residents for this long is unusual. Info, pls.,” one man tweeted.

Late Sunday, responding to Free Press questions, the OPP confirmed an emergency response team was searching for evidence and the investigation was still in its early stages.

Police wouldn’t identify the man shot, or whether or not there was a woman.

“At this point the OPP is not releasing any details on the victim,” Stanley said in his e-mail.

Ginn said he spoke to police a couple of times Sunday, but they said little. He sensed they’d be in the area for several days, perhaps searching the 2,000-hectare conservation area, a haven for hunters and nature lovers. Saturday was the last day of goose-hunting season.

Sunday, there were fewer police cruisers in the area and reports a command post had been taken down.

Diane Proper said there are horse trails throughout the conservation area and there were a lot of horses there this weekend. Bird-dog training sessions and competitions are also held at the marsh.

Alfred and Marianne Dykstra, who live near the sealed-off area, were away at a wedding Saturday night and put off going home until Sunday after hearing about the emergency.

Once back in the area, they went to an officer and asked if it was safe to go home.

He said ‘yes, you’re safe to go,’” Marianne Dykstra said.

“He gave us no reason to think that we had any reason to be afraid for our life,” she said.

The rumours sent shockwaves across the rural area. “We have hunting accidents or even farm machinery accidents, but something like this is totally out of our realm,” she said.

Still, there didn’t seem to be “a sense of urgency” among the police officers at the scene.

Marianne Dykstra said the couple were able to check her husband’s father’s farm down one of the sideroads. “There are police cars on the sideroads, but you can get through there.”

Cruisers and officers were situated along London Rd. (formerly Hwy. 4) and at the ends of Conservation Rd. and Hydro Line Rd. between Clinton and Londesborough.

Traffic was diverted from rural roads, with several people stopped at the road blocks and told they couldn’t pass into the area.

Police had at least one road taped off as a crime scene, with an ambulance waiting nearby on standby.